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Winter and summer climate patterns in the European-Middle East during recent centuries as documented in a northern Red Sea coral record

Alfred Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany nrimbu{at}awi-bremerhaven.de

Thomas Felis

DFG-Research Center for Ocean Margins, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany

Gerrit Lohmann

Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany

Jürgen Päatzold

DFG-Research Center for Ocean Margins, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, Germany

The Ras Umm Sidd coral 6180 record from the northern Red Sea is the northernmost centuries long coral time series that is currently available in seasonal resolution (AD 1750-1995). Here we investigate climate patterns associated with the coral 6180 time series separately for boreal winter and summer, using instrumental and reconstructed climate fields for the European-Middle East region. The winter coral 6180 record is associated with dominant modes of sea-level pressure, temperature and precipitation variability in the European-Middle East region, which reflect the Arctic Oscillation/North Atlantic Oscillation (AO/ NAO) phenomenon. The summer coral 6180 record is associated with an atmospheric pattern having its main centre of action over southwestern Scandinavia/northern Great Britain. The connection between these large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns and the coral time series was stable during the past 250 years. During winter, eastern Mediterranean/Middle East climate, as reflected in the coral 6180 record, is strongly controlled by the AO/NAO. In contrast, large-scale atmospheric circulation processes over the European-Middle East region are relatively less important for northern Red Sea climate during summer. The results suggest a high potential for seasonally resolved proxy records derived from fossil corals of the northern Red Sea to provide information on winter and summer climate patterns of the Middle East European region for time intervals of the Holocene epoch or the last interglacial period.

Key Words: Coral • oxygen isotopes • climate variability • seasonal climate • Red Sea • Middle East • Arctic Oscillation • North Atlantic Oscillation • atmospheric circulation

The Holocene, Vol. 16, No. 3, 321-330 (2006)
DOI: 10.1191/0959683606hl930rp


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